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execration if you, a Christian, failed to keep a custom which heathen women observed for so many generations.
I say nothing of Paula and Eustochium, those fair flowers of your stock, lest I should use the opportunity of exhorting you to praise them.
I pass over Blesilla also, who following your brother her husband to the grave fulfilled in her life's brief span many years of virtue .1
I only wish that men would follow the example that women have publicly given them, and that wrinkled age would render that which youth offers of its own free will.
I am thrusting my hand into the fire knowingly and with my eyes open.
Brows will be knitted, fists shaken against me and 'with swelling voice will angry Chremes rage .' 2
Our great men rise from their chairs, and in answer to this letter of mine the patrician mob will thunder out :
' Magician, seducer ; transport him to the ends of the earth.'
If they like, they may call me ' Samaritan ' as well ; for then I shall recognize a name that was given to my Lord . 3
Assuredly I do not separate the daughter from her mother nor do I use the words of the Gospel :
' Let the dead bury their dead.' 4
For he is alive who believes in Christ, and he who believes in Him ought in any case * himself also so to walk even as He walked.' 5
A truce to the envious attack which the tooth of calumny is always making upon the name of Christian, hoping to dissuade men from virtue by fear of abuse".
Except by letter we know nothing of one another, and where there is no knowledge in the flesh the only motive for friendship is one of piety.
' Honour thy father,' 6 but only if he does not separate you from your true Father.
Acknowledge the tie of blood,
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scito sanguinis copulam, quam diu ille suum noverit creatorem : alioquin David tibi protinus canet ' Audi, filia, et vide et inclina aurem tuam et obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui ; et concupiscet res decorem tuum, quia ipse est dominus Deus tuus.'
Grande praemium parentis obliti ' Concupiscet rex decorem tuum.'
Quia audisti, quia vidisti, quia inclinasti aurem tuam et populi tui domusque patris oblita es, idcirco 4 concupiscet rex decorem tuum ' Tota pulchra es, proxima mea, et macula non est in te.'
Quid pulchrius anima, quae Dei filia nuncupatur et nullos extrinsecus quaerit ornatus ?
Credit in Christum et hac ambitione ditata pergit ad sponsum eundem habens dominum, quern et virum.
' et dicet tibi :
4. Quid angustiarum habeant nuptiae, didicisti in ipsis nuptiis et quasi coturnicum carnibus usque ad nausiam saturata es.
Amarissimam choleram tuae sensere fauces, egessisti acescentes et morbidos cibos, relevasti aestuantem stomachum : quid vis rursus ingerere, quod tibi noxium fuit?
' Canis revertens ad vomitum suum et sus ad volutabrum luti.'
Bruta quoque animalia et vagae aves in easdem pedicas retiaque non incidunt.
An vereris, ne proles Furiana deficiat et ex te parens tuus non habeat pusionem, qui reptet in pectore et cervices eius stercore linat ?
Quippini ?
Omnes habent filios, quae habuere matrimonia, et, quibus nati sunt liberi, suo generi responderunt !
Exhibuit Ciceronis filius patrem in eloquentia?
Cornelia vestra, pudici1 Psalm xlv. 10.
2 Song of Solomon, iv. 7.
3 Numbers, xi. 31 If.
4 2 Peter, ii. 22.
6 Fremantle thinks this refers to the connection between Furia and Paula's family, who traced their descent from the Gracchi, cf section 13, p. 253, where Eustochium is referred to as Furia's sister.
2J2
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but only so long as he recognizes his Creator.
Otherwise David at once will sing to you :
' Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; forget also thine own people and thy father's house.
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord.'
Great is the reward for forgetting a parent 4 the king shall desire thy beauty.'
Because you have heard, considered, inclined your ear, and forgotten your people and your father's house,
' the king ' Thou ' and will say to you : will desire your beauty art all fair, my love ; there is no spot in thee.' 2
What can be fairer than a soul which is called daughter of God and seeks no outward adorning ?
She believes in Christ and enriched by this ambition she goes to her Spouse, having her Lord for Bridegroom.
The trials of marriage you have learned in the married state : you have been surfeited to nausea as though with the flesh of quails . 3
Your mouth has tasted the bitterest of gall, you have voided the sour unwholesome food, you have relieved a heaving stomach.
Why would you put into it again something which has already proved harmful ' The dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the to you ? mire.' 4
Even brute beasts and roving birds do not fall into the same snares or nets twice.
Are you afraid that the line of Camillus will cease to exist and that your father will not have a brat of yours to crawl upon his breast and soil his neck with nastiness ?
Well, do all those who marry have children, and when children are born do they always answer to their family's fame ?
Did Cicero's son show his 6 pattern father's eloquence ?
Had your own Cornelia ,
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tiae simul et fecunditatis exemplar, Gracchos suos se genuisse laetata est ?
Ridiculum sperare pro certo, quod multos et non habere videas et, cum habuerint, perdidisse.
Cui dimittis tantas divitias ?
Christo, qui mori non potest.
Quern habebis heredem ?
Ipsum, quern et dominum.
Contristabitur pater, sed laetabitur Christus ; lugebit familia, sed angeli gratulabuntur.
Faciat pater, quod vult, de substantia sua : non es eius, cui nata es, sed cui renata, et qui te grandi pretio redemit, sanguine suo.
5. Cave nutrices et gemlas et istius modi vinosa animalia, quae de corio tuo saturare ventrem suum cupiunt.
Non suadent, quod tibi, sed, quod sibi prosit, et saepe illud obganniunt ' Solane perpetua maerens carpere iuventa
Nec dulces natos Veneris nec praemia noris ?
Ubi pudicitia et sanctitas, ibi frugalitas est; ubi frugalitas, ibi damna servorum.
Quidquid non tulerint, sibi ablatum putant, nec considerant, de quanto, sed quantum accipiant ; ubicumque viderint Christianum, statim illud e trivio :
6 TpaiKos, 6 hnQerq ?.
Hi rumores turpissimos serunt et, quod ab ipsis egressum est, ab aliis audisse se simulant, idem auctores et exaggeratores.
Exin fama de mendacio, quae, cum ad matrones pervenerit et earum linguis
Virgil, Aeneid, TV. 32.
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alike of chastity and fruitfulness, cause to rejoice in being mother of the Gracchi ?
It is absurd to expect as certain the children, which you see many fail to obtain, and many lose after they have got them.
To whom are you going to leave your great wealth ?
To Christ who cannot die.
Whom shall you make your heir ?
The same who is already your Lord.
Your father will look sad, but Christ will rejoice your family will grieve, but the angels will give you their congratulations.
Your father may do what he : you are not his to whom you have been born, but His to whom you have been born again, and who has ransomed you at a great likes with his own estates price, even with His own blood.
Beware of foster-mothers and nurses and other drunken creatures of their kind, who desire to fill their bellies at the expense of your skin.
They advise you for their own benefit, not yours, continually dinning the poet's lines into your ears
' And will you ever waste your youth in grief, ' 1
Nor children know and the sweet gifts of love ?
Where there is holiness and chastity, there also is frugality.
And where there is frugality, there is the servants' loss.
What they do not get they think is taken from them, and they consider only a Christian they at once raise the street-cry— their wages, not your income.
Whenever they see ' The Greek !
The impostor !
They spread abroad the foulest scandals, pretending they have heard from others what really emanates from themselves and exaggerating the stories which they originate.
Their lies give rise to talk which soon reaches our matrons' ears, and fanned by their tongues spreads
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fuerit ventilata, provincias penetrat.
Videas plerasque rabido ore saevire et tincta facie, viperinis orbibus, dentibus pumicatis carpere Christianos.
Hie aliqua, ' Cui circa humeros hyacinthina laena est, Ranciduium quiddam balba de nare locuta Perstrepit ac tenero supplantat verba palate.'
Omnis consonat chorus et latrant universa subsellia.
Iunguntur nostri ordinis, qui et roduntur et rodunt adversum nos loquaces, pro se muti ; quasi et ipsi aliud sint quam monachi, et non, quidquid in monachos dicitur, redundet in clericos, qui patres sunt monachorum.
Detrimentum pecoris pastoris ignominia est, sicut e regione illius monachi vita laudatur, qui venerationi habet sacerdotes Christi et non detrahit gradui, per quem factus est Christianus.
6. Haec locutus sum, in Christo filia, non dubitans de proposito tuo—numquam enim exhortatorias litteras postulares, si ambigeres de bono monogamiae—sed ut nequitiam servulorum, qui te venalem portant, et insidias adfinium ac pium parentis errorem intellegeres, cui, ut aroorem in te tribuam, amoris scientiam non concedo dicens aliquid cum apostolo ' Confiteor, zelum Dei habent, sed non secundum 1 Persius, I. 32.
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through every province.
You may see many such ladies with painted faces, their eyes like those of vipers and their teeth rubbed with pumice stone, who when they are girding at Christians actually foam at the mouth with mad rage.
One of them, ' A violet mantle round her shoulders thrown, Drawls out some mawkish stuff, speaks through her nose, And minces half her words with tripping tongue.' 1
At that the rest of the band chime in, and the whole company falls a-snarling.
They are backed up by men of my own order, who being themselves a mark for scandal spread scandal about others they are fluent enough in attacking me, but in their own defence they are dumb.
As though, forsooth, they were not monks themselves, and as though all that is said against monks does not reflect on the clergy who are their spiritual fathers !
To hurt the flock is to shame the shepherd.
On the other hand, we must praise the life of a monk who holds Christ's priests in veneration, and does not carp at the order by whose offices he became a Christian.
I have said all this, my daughter in Christ, not because I doubt your steadfastness in your vows, for you would never have requested a letter of advice if you had been uncertain that monogamy was a good thing, but that you may understand the rascality of servants who hold you as something to be sold, the snares laid for you by relatives, and your father's mistaken kindness.
I allow that your father loves you, but I do not admit that his love is according to knowledge, and I say with the apostle
' I confess that they have a zeal of God, but not
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scientiam.'
Imitare potius—crebro enim id repetam •—sanctam matrem tuam, cuius ego quotiens recordor, venit in mentem ardor eius in Christum, pallor ex ieiuniis, elemosyna in pauperes, obsequium in servos Dei, humilitas et cordis et vestium atque in cunctis sermo moderatus.
Pater tuus, quem ego honoris causa nomino—non quia consularis et patricius, sed quia Christianus est-—inpleat nomen suum et laetetur filiam Christo se genuisse, non ; quin potius doleat, quod et virginitatem saeculo frustra amiseris et fructus perdideris nuptiarum.
Ubi est maritus, quem tibi dedit ?
Etiamsi amabilis, etiamsi bonus fuisset, mors finisset omnia et copulam carnis solvisset interitus.
Arripe, quaeso, occasionem et fac de necessitate virtutem.
Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia, sed finis :
Paulus male coepit, sed bene finivit ; Iudae laudantur exordia, sed finis proditione damnatur.
Lege Ezechiel :
' Iustitia iusti non liberabit eum, in quacumque die peccaverit, et inpietas inpii non nocebit ei, in quacumque die conversus fuerit ab inpietate sua.'
Ista est scala Iacob, per quam angeli conscendunt et descendunt, cui dominus innititur lapsis 1 porrigens manum et fessos ascendentium gressus sui contemplatione sustentans.
Sed, sicut non vult mortem peccatoris,
lassis : H ilberg.
1 Romans, x. 2.
Ezekiel, xxxiii. 12.
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' 1 Take rather for model —I cannot repeat it too often—your saintly mother ; whose ardent love for Christ comes into my mind whenever I remember her, and with it the pallor caused by fasting, the alms she gave to the poor, the respect she showed to God's servants, the humility of her heart and dress, and the constant restraint she put upon her tongue.
As for your father—I speak of him with all respect, not because he is a patrician and of consular rank, but because he is a Christian—let him fulfil his Christian obligaaccording to knowledge
! tions and rejoice that he has begotten a daughter for Christ and not for the world.
Nay, rather let him grieve that you have lost your virginity in vain, and have failed to reap any of the fruits of marriage.
Where now is the husband whom he gave you ?
Even if he had been lovable and good, death would have ended everything and this decease would have broken the fleshly bond.
Seize the opportunity, I beg, and make a virtue of necessity.
In the case of Christians, we look not to their beginnings but to their end.
Paul began badly but ended well.
Judas is praised in his early days ; his end is condemned by reason of his treachery.
Read Ezekiel ' The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression ; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness .' 2
Ours is that Jacob's ladder, on which the angels go up and down, while the Lord leans over holding out
His hand to those who slip and sustaining by the vision of Himself the weary steps of those who ascend.
But even as He wishes not the death of a sinner, but only that he should turn again and
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tantum lit revertatur et vivat, ita tepidos odit et cito ei nausiam faciunt.
Cui plus dimittitur, plus diligit.
7. Meretrix ilia in evangelio baptizata lacrimis suis et crine, quo multos ante deceperat, pedes domini tergente servata est.
Non habuit crispantes mitras nec stridentes calceolos nec orbes stibio fuliginatos, quanto foedior, tanto pulchrior.
Quid facit in facie Christianae purpurissus et cerussa ?
Quorum alterum ruborem genarum labiorumque mentitur, alterum candorem oris et colli : ignes iuvenum, fomenta libidinum, inpudicae mentis indicia.
Quomodo Here potest pro peccatis suis, quae lacrimis cutem nudat et sulcos ducit in facie ?
Ornatus iste non domini est, velamen istud antichristi est.
Qua fiducia erigit ad caelum vultus, quos conditor non agnoscat ?
Frustra obtenditur adulescentia et aetas puellaris adseritur vidua, quae marito placere desivit et iuxta apostolum vere vidua est, nihil habet necessarium nisi perseverantiam.
Meminit pristinae voluptatis, scit, quid amiserit, quo delectata sit : ardentes diaboli sagittae ieiuniorum et vigiliarum frigore restinguendae sunt.
Aut loquendum nobis est, ut vestiti sumus, aut vestiendum, ut loquimur.
Quid aliud pollicemur et aliud ostendimus ?
Lingua personat castitatem et totum corpus praefert inpudicitiam.
8. Hoc quantum ad habitum pertinet et ornatum.
Ceterum vidua, ' quae in deliciis est '—non est meum, sed apostoli— ' vivens mortua est.'
Quid sibi vult
1 Timothy, v. 5.
1 Timothy, v. 6.
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live, so He hates the lukewarm and they inspire loathing.
To whom more is forgiven, the same loveth more.
The harlot in the Gospel found salvation, baptized in her own tears and wiping the Lord's feet with the hair which had before lured many a lover.
She wore no waving head-dress, no creaking shoes, nor did she darken her eyes with antimony : the more squalid she was, the more lovely she seemed.
What have rouge and white lead to do on a Christian woman's face?
The one simulates the natural red of cheeks and lips, the other the whiteness of the face and neck.
They are fires to inflame young men, stimulants of lustful desire, plain evidence of an unchaste mind.
How can a woman weep for her sins when tears lay her skin bare and make furrows on her face ?
Such adorning is not of the Lord, it is the mask of Antichrist.
With what confidence can a woman lift to heaven features which her Creator cannot recognize ?
It is in vain to make youth an excuse for all this, or to put in the plea of girlish folly.
A widow who has no husband to please, and in the apostle's words is a widow in deed, needs nothing but perseverance . 1
She still remembers the pleasures of the past, she knows the delights that she has lost, and she must quench the fire of the devil's shafts with the cold streams of fast and vigil.
Either we must speak as we dress, or dress as we speak.
Why do we profess one thing and display another?
The tongue talks of chastity, but the whole body reveals incontinence.
So much for dress and adornment.
But a widow '—the words are not mine, but the apostle's— * that liveth in pleasure ' is dead while she liveth.' 2 What
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' vivens mortua est'?
Vivere quidem videtur ignorantibus et non esse peccato mortua, sed Christo, quem secreta non fallunt, mortua est. hoc, quod ait:
' Amina,' enim, ' quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur.'
' Quorundam hominum peccata manifesta sunt praecedentia ad iudicium, quosdam autem et subsequuntur.
Similiter et facta bona manifesta sunt, et quae aliter se habent, abscondi non possunt.'
Quod dicit, istius modi est quidam tam libere et palam peccant, ut, postquam eos videris, statim intellegas peccatores ; alios autem, qui callide occultant vitia sua, ex sequenti conversatione cognoscimus.
Similiter et bona apud alios in propatulo sunt, in aliis longo usu discimus.
Quid ergo necesse est nos iactare pudicitiam, quae sine comitibus et adpendiculis suis, continentia et parcitate, fidem sui facere non potest ?
Apostolus macerat corpus suum et animae subicit imperio, ne, quod aliis praecipit, ipse non servet : et adulescentula fervente cibis corpore de castitate secura est ?
9. Neque vero haec dicens condemno cibos, ' quos Deus creavit ad utendum cum gratiarum actione,' sed iuvenibus et puellis incentiva esse adsero voluptatum.
Non Aetnaei ignes, non Vulcania tellus, non Vesevus et Olympus tantis ardoribus aestuant, ut iuveniles medullae vino plenae, dapibus inflammatae.
Avaritia calcatur a plerisque et cum marsuppio deponitur ; maledicam linguam indictum emendat silentium ; cultus corporis et habitus
Ezekiel, xviii. 20.
1 Timothy, v. 24.
1 Timothy, iv. 4.
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does it mean/ is dead while she liveth ' ? Why, to those who know not the truth she seems to be alive and not to be dead in sin, but to Christ from whom no secrets are hid she is a dead woman.
' For the soul that sinneth, it shall die .' 1
'Some men's sins are manifest, going before unto judgment, and some men also they follow after.
Likewise also good works are manifest, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.' 2
The words mean this—some men sin with such lack of restraint and concealment that you know them at first sight to be sinners.
But there are others who cunningly conceal their vices, and w re only learn of them by subsequent intercourse.
In the same way the good deeds of some men are openly displayed, in the case of others we only become acquainted with them after long intimacy.
Why then must we make a boast of chastity, which cannot be regarded as genuine unless it is supported by its two handmaids and assistants, continence and frugality?
The apostle macerates his body and subjects it to the soul's control, lest he himself should fail to keep the precept he has given to others.
How then can a young girl be confident of her chastity if her body is all on fire with rich food ?
' which God created to be enjoyed with thanksgiving,' 3 but I assert that for young men and girls some food is an incentive to sensuality.
Neither Etna's fire, nor Vulcan's isle, nor Vesuvius and Olympus, seethe with such burning heat as does the youthful marrow when it is flushed with wine and inflamed by feasting.
In saying this I do not condemn food Many men trample avarice underfoot and lay it down as easily as their purses.
An enforced silence serves as corrective to a slanderous tongue.
One
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vestium unius horae spatio commutatur; omnia alia peccata extrinsecus sunt, et, quod a foris est, facile abicitur : sola libido insita a Deo ob liberorum creationem, si fines suos egressa fuerit, redundat in vitium et quadam lege naturae in coitum gestit erumpere.
Grandis ergo virtutis est et sollicitae diligentiae superare, quod natus sis in carne, non carnaliter vivere, tecum pugnare cottidie et inclusum hostem Argi, ut fabulae ferunt, centum oculis observare.
Hoc est, quod apostolus verbis aliis ' Omne peccatum, quod fecerit homo, loquebatur :
; qui autem fornicatur, in corpus suum peccat.'
Aiunt medici et qui de humanorum corporum scripsere naturis praecipueque Galenus in extra corpus est libris, quorum titulus est 7repi vyieiroiv, puerorum et iuvenum ac perfectae aetatis virorum mulierumque corpora insito calore fervere et noxios esse his aetatibus cibos, qui calorem augeant, sanitatique conducere frigida quaeque in esu et potu sumere ) sicut e contrario senibus, qui pituita laborent et frigore, calidos cibos et vetera vina prodesse.
Unde ' Adtendite,' inquit, ' vobis, ne forte et salvator : adgraventur corda vestra in crapula et ebrietate ' Vino, in quo et curis huius vitae.'
Et apostolus: est luxuria.'
Nec mirum hoc figulum sensisse de vasculo, quod ipse fabricatus est, cum etiam comicus
1 Corinthians, vi. 18.
St. Luke, xxi. 34.
8 Ephesians, v. 18.
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single hour can change a man's fashion of dress and outward appearance.
All other sins are outside ourselves, and what is external can easily be cast away.
Carnal desire alone, implanted in men by God for the procreation of children, if it oversteps its due limits, becomes a sin, and by a law of nature burns to force its way to carnal intercourse.
It is a task for pre-eminent virtue and the most watchful care, seeing that you were born in the flesh, not to live the life of the flesh.
You must fight against yourself every day and keep guard against the enemy within you with the hundred eyes of the fabled Argus.
This is what the apostle said in other words :
' Every sin that a man doeth is without the body ; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body .' 1
Physicians and those who have written on the nature of the human frame, especially Galen in his treatise On Health , say that the bodies of young men and of full-grown men and women glow with an innate warmth, and that for persons of these ages all food is harmful which tends to increase that heat, while it is conducive to health for them to eat and drink anything that is cold.
On the other hand they say that for old people who suffer from humours and from chilliness, warm food and old wine are beneficial.
Hence the Saviour says :
' Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life.' 2
So too the apostle :
' Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess .' 3
No wonder that the potter felt thus about the frail vessel which He had made , 4 seeing 4 Romans, ix. 21.
' Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour ?
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cuius finis est humanos mores nosse atque describere, ' Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus.' dixit:
10. Primum igitur, si tamen stomachi firmitas patitur, donee puellares annos transeas, aquam in potum sume, quae natura frigidissima est, aut, si hoc inbecillitas prohibet, audi cum Timotheo
' Vino modico utere propter stomachum et frequentes tuas infirmitates.'
Deinde in ipsis cibis calida quaeque devita ; non solum de carnibus loquor, super quibus vas electionis profert sententiam :
Bonum est vinum non bibere et carnem non manducare,' sed etiam in ipsis leguminibus inflantia quaeque et gravia declinanda sunt—nihilque ita scias conducere Christianis adulescentibus ut esum holerum, unde et in alio loco :
' Qui infirmus est,' ait, ' holera manducet ' ardorque corporum frigidioribus epulis temperandus est.
Si autem tres pueri et Daniel leguminibus vescebantur, pueri erant, necdum ad sartiginem venerant in qua rex Babylonius senes iudices frixit.
Nobis non corporum cultus, qui in illis—excepto privilegio gratiae Dei—ex huiusce modi cibis enituerat, sed animae vigor quaeritur, quae carnis infirmitate fit fortior.
Inde est, quod nonnulli vitam pudicam adpetentium in medio itinere corruunt, dum solam abstinentiam carnium putant et leguminibus onerant stomachum, quae moderate parceque sumpta innoxia sunt.
Et ut, quod sentio, loquar, 1 Terence, Eunuchus, 732.
1 Timothy, v. 23.
3 Romans, xiv. 21.
4 Romans, xiv. 2.
5 Daniel, i.
6 There is a tradition that the elders who tempted Susannah were thus burned.
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that even the comic dramatist, whose aim is to know and to describe the ways of men, says
' Venus grows cold if Ceres be not there And Bacchus with her.'
In the first place then, if your stomach is strong enough, until you pass out of girlhood drink only water, by nature the coolest of all beverages.
If your health renders this impossible, listen to the advice given to Timothy :
' Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.'
Secondly, in the way of food avoid all heating dishes.
I do not speak of meat only—although on it the chosen ' It is good neither vessel delivers this judgment:
3—but with vegetables to eat flesh nor to drink wine also anything that creates wind or lies heavy on the stomach should be rejected.
You should know that nothing is so good for young Christians as a diet of herbs.
So in another place Paul says :
' Let him who is weak eat herbs.' 4
By cold food the heat of the body should be tempered.
Though Daniel and the three children lived on vegetables , 5 they were only children and had not reached that frying pan in which the king of Babylon cooked the elders who were judges . 6
We do not seek for the physical strength which by a special privilege of God's grace they gained from this diet ; we aim rather at vigour of soul, which becomes stronger as the flesh grows weaker.
This is the reason why some of those who aspire to a life of chastity fall midway on the road.
They think that they need merely abstain from meat, and they load their stomach with vegetables which are only harmless when taken sparingly and in moderation.
To give you my real opinion, I
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nihil sic inflammat corpora et titillat membra genitalia nisi indigestus cibus ructusque convulsus.
Malo apud te, filia, verecundia parumper quam causa periclitari.
Quidquid seminarium voluptatum est, venenum puta.
Parcus cibus et semper venter esuriens triduanis ieiuniis praeferatur, et multo melius est cottidie parum quam raro satis sumere.
Pluvia ilia optima est, quae sensim descendit in terras ; subitus et nimius imber praeceps arva subvertit.
11. Quando comedis, cogita, quod statim tibi orandum, ilico legendum sit.
De scripturis sanctis habeto fixum versuum numerum ; istud pensum domino tuo redde nec ante quieti membra concedas, quam calathum pectoris tui hoc subtegmine impleveris.
Post scripturas sanctas doctorum hominum tractatus lege, eorum dumtaxat, quorum fides nota est.
Non necesse habes aurum in luto quaerere multis margaritis unam redime margaritam.
Sta iuxta Hieremiam in viis pluribus, ut ad illam viam, quae ad patrem ducit, pervenias.
Amorem monilium atque gemmarum sericarumque vestium transfer ad scientiam scripturarum.
Ingredere terram repromissionis lacte et melle manantem, comede similam et oleum, vestire cum Ioseph variis indumentis, perforentur aures tuae cum Hierusalem sermone Dei, ut pretiosa ex illis novarum segetum grana dependeant.
Habes sanctum Exuperium probatae aetatis et fidei, qui te monitis suis frequenter instituat.
1 Pensum , properly the weight of wool allotted to a servant to be made into yarn ; the day's task.
Cf. Jeremiah, vi.
16.
Cf. p. 436, note 3.
Cf. Ezekiel, xvi. 12.
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think that nothing so inflames the body and titillates the organs of generation as undigested food, and convulsive belching.
With you, my daughter, I would rather risk offending your modesty than understate my case.
Regard as poison anything that has within it the seeds of sensual pleasure.
A frugal diet which leaves you always hungry is to be preferred to a three days' fast, and it is much better to go short every day than occasionally to satisfy your appetite to the full.
That rain is best which falls slowly to earth : a sudden and excessive shower which comes tumbling down washes away the soil.
When you are eating, remember that immediately afterwards you will have to pray and read.
Take a fixed number of lines from the Holy Scripture and show them up as your task 1 to your Lord
; and do not lie down to rest until you have filled your heart's basket with this precious yarn.
After the Holy Scriptures, read the treatises that have been written by learned men, provided, of course, that they are persons of known faith.
You need not seek for gold amid the mire : with many pearls buy the one pearl of price.
As Jeremiah 2 says, stand in more ways than one, so that you may come to the way that leads to the Father.
Change your love of necklaces and jewels and silk dresses to a desire for scriptural knowledge.
Enter the land of promise that flows with milk and honey.
Eat wheaten flour and oil, dress like Joseph in coats of many 3 be pierced by the word of God, so that the precious grains of new corn may hang from them.
You have in the colours, let your ears, like Jerusalem's , saintly Exuperius 4 a man of tried years and faith, who can give you constant support with his advice.
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12. Fac tibi amicos de iniquo mammona, qui te recipiant in aeterna tabernacula.
Illis tribue divitias tuas, qui non Phasides aves, sed cibarium panem coemant, qui famem expellant, qui non augeant luxuriam.
Xntellege super egenum et pauperem.
£ maxime domesticis fidei ' Omni petenti te da,' sed ' nudum vesti, esurientem ciba, aegrotantem visita ; quotienscumque manum extendis, Christum cogita, cave ne mendicante domino tuo alienas divitias augeas.
13. Iuvenum fuge consortia.
Comatulos, comptos atque lascivos domus tuae tecta non videant.
Cantor pellatur ut noxius ; fidicinas et psaltrias et istius modi chorum diaboli quasi mortifera siren arum carmina proturba ex aedibus tuis.
Noli ad publicum subinde procedere et spadonum exercitu praeeunte viduarum circumferri libertate.
Pessimae consuetudinis est, cum fragilis sexus et inbecilla aetas suo ' Omnia arbitrio abutitur et putat licere, quod libet.
' licent, sed non omnia expediunt.'
Nec quidem procurator calamistratus nec formosus conlactaneus nec candidulus et rubicundus adsecula adhaereant lateri tuo : interdum animus dominarum ex ancillarum habitu iudicatur.
Sanctarum virginum et viduarum societatem adpete, et si sermocinandi cum viris incumbit necessitas, arbitros ne devites tantaque confabulandi fiducia sit, ut intrante alio nec paveas nec erubescas.
Speculum mentis est facies et taciti
St. Luke, vi. 30, and Galatians, vi. 10.
1 Corinthians, vi. 12.
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Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Give your wealth to those who purchase not pheasants but coarse bread, staying their hunger, not stimulating wantonness.
Consider the poor and needy.
' Give to everyone that asketh of thee,' but ' especially unto them that are of the household of faith 1 clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the sick ; every time you hold out your hand, think of Christ ; beware lest, when your Lord asks alms, you increase other people's riches.
Avoid the society of young men.
Let your house never see beneath its roof wanton long-haired dandies.
Repel a singer like the plague.
Drive from your dwelling all women who live by playing and singing, the devil's choir whose songs are as deadly as those of the sirens.
Do not constantly claim a widow's liberty and appear in the streets with a host of eunuchs walking before your chair.
It is a very bad habit for weak young persons of the frailer sex to abuse their freedom from restraint, and to think that they are allowed to do anything they please.
' All things are lawful but all things are not expedient.' * Let no curled steward or handsome foster-brother or fair ruddy footman stand continually by your side.
Sometimes the character of the mistress is inferred from the dress of her maids.
Seek the company of holy virgins and widows, and if you are obliged to talk with men, do not refuse to have other people present.
Let your conversation be so sure of itself that the entry of a third person will neither make you start nor blush.
The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without
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oculi cordis fatentur arcana.
Vidimus nuper ignominiosum per totum orientem voiitasse : et aetas et cultus et habitus et incessus, indiscreta societas, exquisitae epulae, regius apparatus Neronis et Sardanapalli nuptias loquebantur.
Aliorum vulnus nostra ' Pestilente flagellato stultus sapientior sit cautio ; erit.'
Sanctus amor inpatientiam non habet ; falsus rumor cito opprimitur et vita posterior iudicat de priori.
Fieri quidem non potest, ut absque morsu hominum vitae huius curricula quis pertranseat, malorumque solacium est bonos carpere, dum peccantium multitudine putant culpam minui peccatorum
; sed tamen cito ignis stipulae conquiescit et exundans flamma deficientibus nutrimentis paulatim emoritur.
Si anno praeterito fama mentita est aut, si certe verum dixit, cesset 1 vitium, cessabit et rumor.
Haec dico, non quo de te sinistrum quid metuam, sed quo pietatis affectu etiam, quae tuta sunt, pertimescam.
O si videres sororem tuam et illud sacri oris eloquium coram audire contingeret, cerneres in parvo corpusculo ingentes animos, audires totam veteris et novi testamenti supellectilem ex illius corde fervere ! leiunia pro ludo habet, orationem pro deliciis.
Tenet tympanum in exemplum Mariae et Pharaone submerso virginum choro ' Cantemus domino : gloriose enim magnipraecinit : ficatus est, equum et ascensorem deiecit in mare.'
cesset, Hilberg : cessavit.
1 Proverbs, xix. 25.
Vulgate.
Cf. p. 232, note 5.
3 Exodus, xv. 21.
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speaking confess the secrets of the heart.
I have lately seen a scandalous object flitting this way and that through the East.
Her age, her style, her dress, her mien, the indiscriminate company she kept, and the regal pomp of her elaborate dinners, all proclaimed her a fitting bride for Nero or Sardanapallus.
Let us take warning from another's wound :
' When he that causeth trouble is scourged the fool will be wiser .' 1
A holy love is never impatient : a false rumour is quickly stifled, and the after life passes judgment on that which has gone before.
It is not possible, indeed, that any one should reach the end of life's race without suffering from the tooth of calumny it is a consolation for the wicked to gird at the good, and they think that a multitude of sinners lessens the guilt of sin.
But, nevertheless, a fire of straw soon dies down, and a spreading flame gradually expires if it has nothing to feed on.
If last year's rumour was a lie, or if, though it was true, the sin shall now cease, then the scandal will cease also.
I say this, not that I fear anything wrong in your case, but because my fatherly love for you is so great that even safety makes me afraid.
Oh, if you could see your sister , 2 and be allowed to listen to the eloquence of her holy lips, and behold the mighty spirit that dwells within her small body !
Oh, if you could hear the whole contents of the Old and New Testament come bubbling from her heart !
Fasting is her sport, prayer her favourite pastime.
Like Miriam after the drowning of Pharaoh, she takes up her timbrel and leads the virgin choir
' Let us sing to the Lord, for He hath triumphedgloriously; the horse and his rider He hath thrown into the sea .' 3 She
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Has docet psaltrias Christo, has fidicinas erudit salvatori.
Sic dies, sic nox ducitur et oleo ad lampadas praeparato sponsi expectatur adventus.
Imitare ergo et tu consanguineam tuam : habeat Roma, quod angustior urbe Romana possidet Bethleem.
14. Habes opes, facile tibi est indigentibus victus subsidia ministrare.
Quod luxuriae parabatur, virtus insumat ; nulla nuptias contemptura timeat egestatem.
Redime virgines, quas in cubiculum salvatoris inducas, suscipe viduas, quas inter virginum lilia et martyrum rosas quasi quasdam violas misceas
; pro corona spinea, in qua mundi Christus delicta portavit, talia serta compone.
Laetetur et adiuvet vir nobilissimus, pater tuus ; discat a filia, quod didicerat ab uxore.
Iam incanuit caput, tremunt genua, dentes cadunt et frontem obscenam rugis arat, vicina est mors in foribus, designatur rogus prope : velimus nolimus, senes sumus.
Paret sibi viaticum, quos longo itinere necessarium est.
Secum portet, quod invitus dimissurus est, immo praemittat in caelum, quod, ni caruerit, terra sumptura est.
15. Solent adulescentulae viduae, quarum non- ' abierunt retro Satanam, cum luxuriatae nullae * Patrimoniolum meum cottidie perit, maiorum hereditas dissipatur, fuerint in Christo,' subantes dicere : servus contumeliose locutus est, imperium ancilla 1 At this time many Romans were being taken captive by invading barbarians and held to ransom.
1 Timothy, v. 15, 11, 2 54
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teaches her companions to be music-girls for Christ, and trains them as lute-players for the Saviour.
Thus she passes her days and nights, and with oil ready in her lamp awaits the coming of the Bridegroom.
Take pattern then by your kinswoman.
Let Rome have what Bethlehem, a smaller place than Rome, already possesses.
You have money, and can easily supply food to those who want it.
Let virtue take what was meant for extravagance : no woman who means to scorn marriage need fear poverty.
Ransom 1 virgins and lead them into the Saviour's chamber.
Support widows and mingle them like violets with the virgins' lilies and the martyrs' roses.
These are the garlands you must make for Christ in place of the crown of thorns in which He bore the sins of the world.
Let your noble father rejoice to help you; let him learn from his daughter as he once learned from his wife.
His hair is grey, his knees shake, his teeth are falling out, his forehead is disfigured by wrinkles, death stands near at his door, and the pyre is being marked out for him close by.
Whether we like it or not, we are old men now.
Let him provide for himself the provision he needs for his long journey.
Let him take with him that which otherwise he must reluctantly leave behind ; nay, let him send before him to heaven what, if he does not take care, will be appropriated by earth.
Young widows, of whom some ' are already turned aside after Satan, when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ,'
in their lustful moments are wont to say ' My little estate is wasting every day, the property I have inherited is being scattered, my footman has spoken insultingly to me, my maid
2 55
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neglexit.
Quis procedet ad publicum ?
Quis respondebit pro agrorum tributis ?
Parvulos meos '
Ethane quis erudiet ?
Vernulas quis educabit?
!—causam opponunt matrimonii, quae vel pro nefas sola debuit nuptias inpedire.
Superducit mater filiis non vitricum, sed hostem, non parentem, sed tyrannum.
Inflammata libidine obliviscitur uteri sui, et inter parvulos suas miserias nescientes lugens dudum nova nupta conponitur.
Quid obtendis patrimonium, quid superbiam servulorum ?
Confitere turpitudinem.
Nulla idcirco ducit maritum, ut cum marito non dormiat.
Aut si certe libido non stimulat, quae tanta insania est in morem scortorum prostituere castitatem, ut augeantur divitiae, et propter rem vilem atque perituram pudicitia, quae et pretiosa et aeterna est, polluatur?
Si habes liberos, nuptias quid requiris ?
Si non habes, quare expertam non metuis sterilitatem et rem incertam certo praefers pudori ?
Scribuntur tibi nunc sponsales tabulae, ut post paululum testamentum facere conpellaris.
Simulabitur mariti infirmitas et, quod te morituram facere volet, ipse victurus faciet.
Aut si evenerit, ut de secundo marito habeas filios, domestica pugna, intestinum proelium.
Non licebit tibi amare liberos nec aequis aspicere oculis, quos genuisti.
Clam porriges cibos, invidebit mortuo,
LETTER LIV
pays no attention to my orders.
Who will appear for me in public ?
Who will be responsible for my land-tax ?
Who will educate my little children and bring up my house-slaves ?
Shame on them They bring forward as a reason for marriage the very thing which should in itself render marriage impossible.
A mother sets over her children not a stepfather but an enemy, not a parent but a tyrant.
Inflamed by lustfulness she forgets her own offspring, and in the midst of the little ones who know nothing of their sad fate the lately weeping widow arrays herself afresh as a bride.
Why these pretexts of property and arrogant servants ?
Confess your vileness.
No woman marries with the idea of not sleeping with a husband.
If you are not spurred on by lust, surely it is the height of madness to prostitute yourself like a harlot merely to increase your wealth, and for a paltry and passing gain to pollute that precious chastity which might endure for ever.
If you have children, why do you want to marry ?
If you have none, why do you not fear the barrenness you have already known ?
Why do you put an uncertain gain before a certain loss of modesty ?
A marriage settlement is made in your favour to-day, but soon you will be induced to make your will.
Your husband will feign illness, and will do for you what he wants you to do for him but he means to go on living, and you are destined for an early grave.
Or if it should happen that you have sons by your second husband, domestic warfare and intestine feuds will be the result.
You will not be allowed to love your own children, or to look kindly on those to whom you gave birth.
You will hand them their food secretly; for he will
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et nisi oderis filios, adhuc eorum amare videberis patrem.
Quodsi de priori uxore habens sobolem te domum introduxerit, etiam si clementissima fueris, omnes comoediae et mimographi et communes rhetorum loci in novercam saevissimam declamabunt.
Si privignus languerit et condoluerit caput, infamaberis ut venefica.
Si non dederis cibos, crudelis, si dederis, malefica diceris.
Oro te, quid habent tantum boni secundae nuptiae, ut haec mala valeant conpensare ?
16. Volumus scire, quales esse debeant viduae ?
Legamus evangelium secundum Lucam :
' Et erat,'
' Anna prophetissa, filia Phanuel de tribu inquit, Aser.'
Anna interpretatur ' gratia,'
Phanuel in lingua nostra resonat * vultum Dei,'
Aser vel in ' beatitudinem ' divitias ' vertitur.
Quia ' vel in ergo ab adulescentia usque ad octoginta quattuor annos viduitatis onus sustinuerat et non recedebat de templo Dei diebus ac noctibus insistens ieiuniis et obsecrationibus, idcirco meruit gratiam spiritalem et nuncupatur filia vultus Dei et atavis beatitudine divitiisque censetur.
Recordemur viduae Sareptenae, quae et suae et filiorum saluti Heliae praetulit famem et ipsa nocte moritura cum filio superstitem hospitem relinquebat malens vitam perdere quam elemosynam et in pugillo farris seminarium sibi messis dominicae preparavit.
Farina seritur et olei capsaces nascitur.
St. Luke, ii. 36.
1 Kings, xvii. 10 ff.
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be jealous of your dead husband, and unless you hate your sons he will think you still in love with their father.
If he, for his part, has issue by a former wife, when he brings you into his house, then, even though you have a heart of gold, you will be the cruel stepmother, against whom every comedy, every mime-writer, and every dealer in rhetorical commonplaces raises his voice.
If your stepson falls sick or has a headache, you will be maligned as a poisoner.
If you refuse him food, you will be cruel ; if you give it, you will be said to have bewitched him.
What benefit, I pray you, can a second marriage confer sufficient to compensate for these disadvantages ?
Do we wish to know how widows ought to behave ?
Let us read the Gospel according to Luke :
' There was one Anna,' he says,' a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Aser .' 1
Anna means ' grace,'
Phanuel in our language is the ' face of God,' Aser 4 wealth.'
As then she had borne the burden of widowhood from her youth up to the age of fourscore and four years, and never left the temple day or night, giving herself
' or is translated either as ' blessedness to fasting and prayer, therefore she earned spiritual grace and is called daughter of the face of God, and in blessedness and wealth is reckoned with her ancestors.
Let us remember the widow of Zarephath , 2 who considered the satisfaction of Elijah's hunger more important than her own and her children's lives.
Though she thought that she and her son that very night would die, she meant her guest to survive, preferring to lose life rather than her name for charity.
In her handful of meal she found the seed of the Lord's harvest.
She sows her meal 2 59
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In Iudaea frumenti penuria—granum enim tritici ibi mortuum fuerat—et in gentium viduae olei fluenta manabant.
Legimus Iudith—si cui tamen placet volumen recipere—viduam confectam ieiuniis et habitu lugubri sordidatam, quae non lugebat mortuum virum, sed squalore corporis sponsi quaerebat adventum.
Video armatam gladio manum, cruentam dexteram, recognosco caput Holofernae de mediis hostibus reportatum.
Vincit viros femina et castitas truncat libidinem habituque repente mutato ad victrices sordes redit omnibus saeculi cultibus mundiores.
17. Quidam inperite et Debboram inter viduas numerant ducemque Barac arbitrantur Debborae filium, cum aliud scriptura commemoret.
Nobis ad hoc nominabitur, quod prophetissa fuerit et in ordine iudicum supputetur.
Et quia dicere poterat :
' Quam dulcia gutturi meo eloquia tua, super mel et favum ori meo/ apis nomen accepit scripturarum floribus pasta, Spiritus Sancti odore perfusa et dulces ambrosiae sucos prophetali ore conponens.
Noomin, quae nobiscum sonat 7r<xpaKei<\r)fxevr), quam interpretari possumus £ consolatam/ marito et liberis peregre mortuis pudicitiam reportavit in patriam et hoc sustentata viatico nurum Moabitidem tenuit, ut ' Emitte agnum, domine, dominatorem terrae, de petra illud Esaiae vaticinium conplerentur :
1 Psalm cxix. 103.
2 Ruth, i. 6, 16.
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and, lo ! a cruse of oil appears.
In Judaea there was a scarcity of corn, for the grain of wheat had died but in the house of a heathen widow streams of oil gushed forth.
We read in the book of Judith, if we may accept that record, of a widow spent with fasting and unkempt in mourner's dress, who was not so much grieving for her dead husband but in squalor awaiting the advent of the Bridegroom.
I see her hand armed with a sword and stained with blood, I recognize the head of Holofernes carried in triumph from the midst of the enemy.
A woman conquers men, chastity beheads lust, and then suddenly changing her dress she returns again to her victorious squalor, a squalor finer than all the pomp of this world.
Some people ignorantly count Deborah among the widows, and think that Barak, the leader of the army, was her son.
The Scripture gives a different account.
I will mention her now because she was a prophetess and is reckoned as one of the judges, and also because she could say :
' How sweet are thy words unto my taste !
Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth .' 1
Rightly was she called ' the bee,' for she fed on the flowers of the Scriptures, she was steeped in the fragrance of the Holy Spirit, and with prophetic lips she gathered the sweet juices of the nectar.
Naomi, in our language 7rapaKa<\r)/Aev7 7 , * she who is consoled,' when her husband and children died in a foreign land, carried her chastity back to her native country, and supported by that provision for her journey, kept with her the Moabite woman who was her son's wife ,
that in her the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled :
' Send out the lamb, O Lord, to rule over the land from
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deserti.'
Venio ad viduam de evangelio, viduam pauperculam, omni Israhelitico populo ditiorem, quae accipiens granum sinapis et mittens fermentum in farinae satis tribus Patris et Filii confessionem Spiritus
Sancti gratia temperavit et duo minuta misit in gazophylacium quidquid habere poterat in substantia sua universasque divitias in utroque fidei suae obtulit testamento.
Haec sunt duo seraphin ter glorificantia Trinitatem et in thesauro ecclesiae condita, unde et forcipe utriusque instrumenti ardens carbo conprehensus purgat labia peccatoris.
18. Quid vetera repetam et virtutes feminarum
de libris proferam, cum possis multas tibi ante oculos proponere in urbe, qua vivis, quarum imitari exemplum debeas ?
Et ne videar adulatione per singulas currere, sufficit tibi sancta Marcella, quae respondens generi suo aliquid nobis de evangelio retulit.
Anna septem annis a virginitate sua vixerat cum marito, ista septem mensibus ; ilia Christi expectabat adventum, ista tenet, quern ilia susceperat ; ilia vagientem canebat ; ista praedicat triumphantem ilia loquebatur de eo omnibus, qui expectabant redemptionem Hierusalem, haec cum redemptis ' Frater non redimit, redimet homo,' et de alio psalmo : gentibus clamitat :
' Homo natus est in ea et ipse fundavit earn altissimus.'
Scio me ante hoc
Isaiah, xvi.
Isaiah, yi.
2, 3.
3 Psalm xlix. 7.
4 Psalm lxxxvii. 5.
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the rock of the desert .' 1
I come now to the widow in the Gospel, that poor humble widow who was richer than all the people of Israel.
She had but a grain of mustard seed, but she put her leaven into three measures of flour, and tempering her confession of the Father and Son with the grace of the Holy Spirit, she cast her two mites into the treasury.
All her substance and her entire wealth she offered in the double testament of her faith.
These are the two seraphim which glorify the Trinity with triple song, and are stored among the treasures of the Church . 2
Hence, also, the double pincers wherewith the live coal is gripped to purge the sinner's lips.
But why should I go back to ancient times and quote instances of female virtue from books ?
Before your own eyes in Rome, where you are living now, you have many women whom you might well choose for your model.
I will not take them individually lest I should seem to flatter: you may be content with one, the saintly Marcella, who while she maintains the glory of her family has given us an example of the Gospel life.
Anna lived with a husband seven years from her virginity ; Marcella lived seven months.
Anna looked for the coming of Christ Marcella holds fast to the Lord whom Anna welcomed.
Anna sang of Him, when He was still a puling infant ; Marcella proclaims His triumph.
Anna spoke of Him to all those who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem; Marcella cries aloud with the nations of the redeemed :
' A brother redeemeth not, yet a man shall redeem,' 3 and from another psalm :
' A man was born in her and the Highest Himself hath established her.
' 4
About two years ago
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ferme biennium edidisse libros contra Iovinianum, quibus venientes e contrario quaestiones, ubi apostolus concedit secunda matrimonia, scripturarum auctoritate contrivi.
Et non necesse est eadem ex integro scribere, cum possis inde, quae scripta sunt, mutuari.
Hoc tantum, ne modum egrediar epistulae, admonitam volo : cogita te cottidie esse morituram, et numquam de secundis nuptiis cogitabis.
LX Ad Heliodorum Epitaphium Nepotiani 1. Grandes materias ingenia parva non sufferunt et in ipso conatu ultra vires ausa succumbunt quantoque maius fuerit, quod dicendum est, tanto magis obruitur, qui magnitudinem rerum verbis non potest explicare.
Nepotianus meus, tuus, noster, immo Christi, et quia Christi, idcirco plus noster, reliquit senes et desiderii sui iaculo vulneratos intolerabili dolore confecit.
Quern heredem putavimus, funus tenemus.
Cui iam meum sudabit ingenium ?
Cui litterulae placere gestient ?
Ubi est ille (pyo?>iu)KTri<s noster et cygneo canore vox dulcior?
Stupet animus, manus tremit, caligant oculi, lingua balbutit.
Quidquid dixero, quia ille non audiet, 1 At one time a monk, later an opponent of Christian asceticism.
Pammachius sent a copy of his work to Jerome at Bethlehem and Jerome's answer to it was written in 393.
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LIV AND LETTER LX
I know that I published a treatise against Jovinian,1 in which I refuted by the authority of the Scriptures the objections based on the apostle's concession of second marriages.
It is unnecessary to repeat my arguments afresh, for you can borrow them from that book.
That I may not exceed the limits of a letter, I will give you this final piece of advice.
Think every day that you must die, and then you will never think of a second marriage.
LETTER LX
To Heliodorus A Letter of Consolation for the death of Nepotianus Written a.d. 396
Small minds cannot deal adequately with great subjects; if they venture beyond their strength they fail in the attempt ; and the greater the theme, the more completely is he overwhelmed who cannot find words to express its grandeur.
Nepotian who was mine and yours and ours—nay rather, who was Christ's and because Christ's therefore the more ours—has left us in our old age overwhelmed with a grief that is past bearing, our hearts all sore with longing for him still.
We thought of him as our heir, but now we only have his dead body.
For whom now shall my mind exert itself?
Whom shall my poor writings strive to please ?
Where is he, the inspirer of my labours, whose voice was sweeter than a swan's song ?
My heart is numbed, my hand trembles, my eyes are misty, my tongue stammers.
All that I say seems voiceless, for he no
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ST. JEROME
mutum videtur.
Stilus ipse quasi sentiens et cera subtristior vel rubigine vel situ obducitur.
Quotienscumque nitor in verba prorumpere et super tumulum eius epitaphii huius flores sparger e, totiens conplentur oculi et renovato dolore totus in funere sum.
Moris quondam fuit, ut super cadavera defunctorum in contione pro rostris laudes liberi dicerent et instar lugubrium carminum ad fletus et gemitus audientium pectora concitarent : en rerum in nobis ordo mutatus est et in calamitatem nostram
: quod exhibere senibus perdidit sua iura natura iuvenis debuit, hoc iuveni exhibemus senes.
2. Quid igitur faciam ?
Iungam tecum lacrimas ?
Sed apostolus prohibet Christianorum mortuos ' Non dormientes vocans et dominus in evangelio :
' mortua puella, sed dormit.'
Lazarus quoque, quia dormierat, suscitatus est.
Laeter et gaudeam, quod est/ inquit, ' raptus sit, ne malitia inmutaret mentem eius/ quia placeret Deo anima illius ?
Sed invito et repugnanti per genas lacrimae fluunt et inter praecepta virtutum resurrectionisque spem credulam mentem desiderii frangit affectus.
O mors, quae fratres dividis et amore sociatos crudelis ac dura dissocias !
4 Adduxit urentem ventum dominus de deserto ascendentem, qui siccavit venas tuas et desolavit fontem tuum.'
Devorasti quidem Ionam,
Cf. Virgil, Aeneid, V. 79, purpureosque iacit flores (on the tomb of Anchises).
2 Thessalonians, iv.
13.
St. Mark, v. 39.
4 Wisdom, iv. 11.
5 Hosea, xiii. 15.